catherine

continuing on in the family portraits...

this is catherine, my big sister, or my "cc", as i call her. i won't tell you her middle name, where the cc comes from, because i don't think she really cares for it too much. (sorry, mom. i like mine.) we are the closest in age of all the siblings, and therefore, have probably spent the most time together.

when i was a wee thing, catherine was my self-appointed second mom. if i got cheeky and anyone threatened to discipline me, teenage catherine would jump between, warning "OH NO YOU DON'T!" she has undoubtedly saved me from many a sore butt. for that, i'd like to take a moment to formally thank her... THANK YOU! heehee.

she has a very strong sense of justice, but also a gift for mediation--common to the middle child in a family. she is extremely nurturing and defends those whom she loves fiercely, like a lionness. i can always count on her to be my most honest critic, as well as my most loyal advocate.

the two of us share an, umm, "extreme cleaning & organizing" gene. it's handed down to us by a looong line of germans before us. we really can't help it. we also share a love for words and books, which i wrote about earlier in the post about our mom. again, do NOT challenge this woman to a "friendly" game of scrabble. i repeat...do NOT.

with a little prompting, my usually conservative sister can be convinced to do some ridiculous things. (of course, it probably helps that she's married to one of the most hilarious men on earth.) once we walked her family's two dogs around their golf community in the freezing rain...skipping merrily and wearing shower caps. LMAO! there are photos documenting this, for those of you who might require proof. unfortunately (or fortunately, as catherine might be thinking), i do not have digital files of said photos.

catherine loves jesus, and has strived to rear my two nephews, jacob and sam, to be godly men. they are some of my favorite boys, and i will write about them another time. ;o)

i love you, cc.

p.s. i stand corrected. she tells me she likes her middle name, carlene (after our grandpa, carl); she just dislikes the way southerners say it: "caar-laaaane". well, ah'll be.... :o)